


unity

by talonyth



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: I'm Bad At Tagging, Idols, M/M, hey another idol au brought to you by yours truly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-02
Updated: 2016-08-02
Packaged: 2018-07-28 19:04:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7653169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/talonyth/pseuds/talonyth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>C2OWS is a unit of two: Kageyama and Hinata. But as per usual, the two of them aren't as harmonious as it would be expected of a unit - or are they?</p>
            </blockquote>





	unity

**Author's Note:**

> please go easy on me, i've edited this until 2.30am and i'm sure i probably overlooked really stupid mistakes.
> 
> so, this is a commission for my dearest [nids](http://twitter.com/Geminnnid) and her idol au that i got far too into and topped the word count by... a lot of words. all self-indulgence. i am very much into idols, into kagehina, and especially into idol kagehina even if many details are probably not entirely correct. pls forgive a poor soul
> 
> i hope you'll enjoy this!

Hinata’s palms feel sweaty, clamping on the microphone tightly. He straightens his back and exhales, repeating it two or three times to no avail. The back of the stage is almost entirely dark, the crowd audible though. Lights flashing in all colours and music blaring loudly as an opening to their concert.

His toes curl in his shoes, cramping up when a palm hits his shoulder so hard it makes it hard to breathe. “Didn’t you say you were over getting nervous?”

Hinata squints at Kageyama but averts his eyes right away. He did boast about this before, after all they’ve been performing for a little more over three years now - but the truth is that his nerves never let him rest much. Neither does his excitement. It is a weird mixture, really. 

Kageyama’s hand rests on his shoulder still. It is surprisingly warm and grossly sweaty too. Relieving. “Are your shoe laces tightened?”

“Are you offering to check, Kageyama-kun?” Hinata sneers and stretches out his foot. “All good, I’m not doing that mistake again. Besides, it was just in practice anyway. Three years ago. ...You’re really unforgiving, aren’t you?”

Kageyama huffs. “You don’t forget about a shoe hitting the back of your head that easily, you dumbass.”

Hinata’s hands tighten around the microphone, stomach fluttering. “It helps when I am scared because nothing I experienced so far was as terrifying as your expression back then so when I think of that, nothing else can really scare me. ...Thanks.”

Without blinking an eye, he ducks away from Kageyama’s incoming grab to his head and snickers as he listens to the other grumble in anger. His hand is gone from his shoulder now but the feeling of it still lingers pleasantly. 

It’s going to be a good show. 

\---

The first time he arrived in Tokyo it was ridiculously hard to get used to it. Being from the countryside, the city intimidated Hinata immensely and yet it fascinated him all the while. With its tall buildings and masses of people, flashing lights and loud noise. It wasn’t all that different from the feeling of being on stage, even if he experienced it only once before. 

And failed miserably. Had forgotten the basic choreography they had to memorize and had improvised instead. He buried his face in his scarf and tried not to remember his frustration. Naturally, he was kicked out of the only chance he had had to get noticed.

That’s what he thought but a few months after that disaster, he received a phone call inviting him to Tokyo for an audition based on that day made from hell. Not only did he fail to pass the competition and net himself a chance to join an idol agency, he also picked a fight with a big shot newbie idol as he belatedly realized. 

He stared down at the display of his phone, then up to the building in front of him. It looked so unnecessarily fancy, so many windows that he didn’t want to imagine how much time it took to clean all of them. According to the map on his phone, this was the place he was supposed to come to. 

Not more than half an hour later, Hinata felt incredibly misplaced as he waited inside of the office of the person he was meant to meet. He skimmed the mail again. Takeda Ittetsu. He could remember that. He felt like he had heard the name before, too. 

The door flung open and a short, young-looking man entered the room and bowed right away.

“Ah! You are Hinata-kun! I remember you! I am Takeda Ittetsu. I work as a manager in this agency.”

And so did Hinata. That person had been at the one audition he participated in. As a judge. In fact, Hinata is almost 100% sure this agency was the one that promised to take one of the participants in. How could that have slipped his mind until now?

“A-Ah, yes,” Hinata said weakly and added a meek laugh. “I figure you would.” He paused for a second before snapping his head up. “...Wait, you do!?”

Takeda smiled gently and waved him over. “I do. It is hard to forget someone like you, you see. I am not the only one who thinks that. This is why I wanted you to come today.”

Hinata stood up, walking up to Takeda’s side and following him outside with a small bow. His stomach twisted and turned. Wasn’t this unusual? Besides, for an audition there would be more people, like before or was this a different kind of? 

To come to Tokyo on a whim because he’d been called by an agency… wasn’t this far too desperate? But for the past few years, all he worked for had been in order to become an idol. A chance like this wasn’t to be wasted, even if they called him in to make fun of him. 

He simply had to convince them. After all, he still had to make his challenge true. That Kageyama would see, whether he already had his debut or not.

“I apologize for calling on such a short notice, Hinata-kun. I haven’t filled you in on why you are here yet so let me do that now,” Takeda said as they entered an elevator. The doors closed and Hinata instantly felt uncomfortable but he tried not to make it show. 

“See, as I said before, I remember you from back at the Summer Rookie Cup. It’s a very good occasion for young people who aim to become idols to get noticed by agencies, by scouts, sometimes even by fellow idols.”

Hinata nodded quietly. “Yeah, I know. That’s why I participated.”

“Naturally. Among so many, you are the only one I can properly remember. You didn’t pass back that day but it didn’t make you less impressive as a whole.”

Hinata’s heart skipped a beat. He couldn’t bring himself to look at Takeda’s face and followed the pattern of the ground tiles with his eyes instead. His face was burning in anticipation.

“While you failed the task at hand, to perform that choreography, there was still one thing you have managed. You made us notice you. And that not simply by messing up, mind you.”

“Does this mean…. You consider me…?”

Takeda laughed and the doors of the elevator opened. Hinata stumbled after Takeda with legs that felt like jelly. Out of pure excitement. 

“Someone with the ability to so easily come up with an exciting and catchy choreography on the fly without panicking is extremely seldom to find. It doesn’t mean you should rest on your ability to do so and aim for memorizing choreographies instead but…” Takeda stopped and looked at Hinata with a reassuring smile. “It is incredibly valuable nonetheless. Not to say that your movements and your reflexes are one of a kind. Ah!”

A phone rang. Takeda’s, apparently. He picked up and hastily talked to the person on the other phone. Hinata couldn’t pay that any mind when his heart was racing. His training had paid off. Even it had been by himself, even if he had no one else to look over him - he did get another chance, after all. 

“Hinata-kun, I will have to take care of something. I apologize for this. It shouldn’t take more than half an hour but still…. Please go to the very last practice room,” the manager said and stuffed his phone back into his pocket before taking off quicker than Hinata expected him to be while saying, “He should already be waiting there for you!”

And then he was gone, off into the elevator without explaining a single thing as to who that ‘he’ referred to. ...Big Boss? Hinata clutched his chest and took a deep breath, walking down the corridor until he reached the last door. Music was playing loudly, along with steps and the screeching of shoes over wooden floor. 

Hinata opened the door with thundering heart, carefully and peeked inside as to who could be practicing there. He wished he could have stayed cooler about the situation instead of taking a loud indignant breath and slamming the door open after all. 

“You! Why are you here!?”

He pointed at Kageyama with shaking fingers, the other perplexed at the sudden shouting louder than the music was. He blinked, puzzled first, followed by a grimace. 

“So,” Kageyama said, turning the music off and glaring at Hinata, “ _You_ are the one Takeda-san had in mind as my partner?”

Hinata’s mouth opened but closed back again. He couldn’t think of a single thing to answer. Had he overread that particular part of the email?

\---

“You know,” Hinata says, to quiet his mind. Just a few more minutes before the concert starts. The music outside is still playing, the crowd getting continuously louder. “I would have never thought it’d come to this.”

“Because you were so shitty?” 

Kageyama is as relentless as always but Hinata can’t bring himself to be particularly angry. Irritating to admit but Kageyama isn’t entirely wrong. He used to suck badly enough to cringe at past recordings of their performances before. 

“I meant us two performing together like this. I mean, we were rivals, even if it was just for one audition. I promised to kick your ass. And now?”

“Are you saying you’ve given up on kicking my ass?” Kageyama’s arms were crossed, eyes not meeting Hinata’s at all. There are times where it’s still hard to tell what Kageyama thinks, as simple-minded as he is. 

“Not at all. I won’t rest until everyone pays more attention to me than to you,” Hinata says, with conviction.

Kageyama grins, glancing over to Hinata. “Dream on.”

\---

“How do you suck this badly?”

Hinata groaned and hit the Play button of the stereo hard enough to make his palm burn. It had been roughly over a month since he agreed to form a unit with Kageyama. The only chance he could get to come close to a stage was to work with the one guy he challenged. On no basis, apparently. 

Kageyama hadn’t forgotten about it as Hinata originally thought. Someone who had already debuted, who had been at that audition for the kicks, someone who should have forgotten Hinata in the blink of an eye. 

He didn’t, and that was both the good and the bad part of the entire deal. Kageyama took him seriously, he took his challenge seriously - it didn’t change a single thing about the fact that Hinata had a lot less practical experience in comparison. Matching Kageyama’s fast-paced movements was more than just difficult. But not impossible. 

Still, Kageyama paused the music and crossed his arms. His glare had been more intimidating before. Now all Hinata could do was glare back. 

“I want to continue,” he said. 

“Good for you.” Kageyama returned to his original position and stared at Hinata. “Your count is worth shit. Either you have no feeling for rhythm or you pay too much attention and notice too much of the instrumentals. No idea what your deal is but we’ll continue without music.”

“W-What? How are we supposed to perform without music? Are you insane? You know we’ll have to sing, too, right?”

Kageyama took a deep breath in, exhaled and straightened his back into the first figure of the choreography. “Don’t treat me like an idiot. I’m not you. All you have to do is make your muscles remember the movements. I will count out aloud and you will go along with it. That way our performance will at least match. Muscle memory is stronger than you imagine, it’ll carry you through a song too even if you’ve never practiced listening to it.”

“...Are you speaking out of experience?” Hinata asked as he did the same as Kageyama. If it helped, he would follow Kageyama’s instructions. He couldn’t imagine it working though. Dancing without music? How was that going to fix anything? 

Kageyama didn’t reply but for a second, Hinata imagined he glanced back to him in a way he hadn’t seen Kageyama look like before. It made him realize he never asked Kageyama anything about himself before. 

And then, Kageyama started to count. 

\---

Hinata blinked rapidly at the pamphlet he’d been handed by Takeda, unable to tear his gaze away from the letters written in it. His fingers were shaking. 

“We thought we’d introduce you on that day. The event is fairly big and there are going to be a lot of fans of the units our agency takes care of. Of course, the two of you also count into that now,” the manager said as gently as ever. 

Hinata didn’t bother checking for Kageyama’s reaction to the fact that they were going to perform in a little less than a month - the first time in front of a larger audience as a unit. He could guess Kageyama was unimpressed by this whole situation. His experience both amazed and upset Hinata.

“Ah, so that event is going to be our debut? Since we’re being introduced and all.” Of course he was calm. How irritating. Hinata still couldn’t look away. Among those incredibly popular idol units, their names were listed too. Terrifying. But incredibly exciting.

“Yes, that’s the plan. Starting that day, you will be a proper part of this agency. I think--- no, we think --- that the two of you have been doing a fantastic job with your practice and it is about time it pays off. After all, we have been taking care of you in order to show the two of you to the world proudly.” 

When Hinata looked up, he found Takeda smiling at them fondly. As he always did, despite the trouble they caused him, despite the basics Hinata still messed up. Takeda had never once gotten upset, only offered them advice and looked for solutions. He kept giving them chances no matter how much one of them messed up an interview or a small performance. 

“We will give it the best we have, then,” Hinata said, not looking at any of them still. C2OWS had been quite the confusing name for either of them until Takeda explained to them it did not mean they were two cows but two crows due to their black outfits. ‘A number for the fancy aspect’, he said, ‘It’s popular in unit names, nowadays.’ 

“Naturally. What else would we do?” 

Irritatingly smooth-sailing for someone who got his tongue tied when they tried to praise someone but Hinata could look over his annoyance at his own lack of coolness for once. He couldn’t agree more with Kageyama. 

He lifted his eyes and met Takeda’s smile with one of his own, fingers smoothing over the surface of the pamphlet. “We won’t make you regret your effort.”

\---

His hands were shaking, his body trembling. Hinata bit his lower lip. He shouldn’t have said that. He wanted to apologize but he found himself unable to look up and meet Kageyama’s eyes. He didn’t have to in order to know he fucked up. 

“So that’s how you are going to repay Takeda-san for the effort and time he poured into you? Don’t think for a second--,” Kageyama hissed and stepped closer to him, grabbing his collar and yanking him once with less force than Hinata expected, “Not once, you hear me, that I am going to let you shit all over that. Go ahead, tell me again how I was kicked out of my old agency for how much of a selfish asshole I was. _I know that._ But you and me are stuck together nonetheless and if you don’t want to let Takeda-san’s effort go to waste, you will have to do well. You will have to memorize choreographies and you obviously---”

Hinata grabbed both of Kageyama’s wrists and knocked his forehead against Kageyama’s sharply. “I obviously what? Can’t do it because I’m too much of an idiot? Have you ever once thought, just for a single moment, that I am not dependant on you? Have you ever let me _try_? That was all I asked for. I didn’t say I was going to stop practicing neither that I would leave. I told you to let me give a completely normal practice a _try_.”

He yanked Kageyama away but the other clutched onto his shirt too tightly. His heart kept thundering, roaring. He didn’t mean to fight. He didn’t even mean to say what he did. “Do you think I enjoy this!? Do you think this kind of practice is fun for me!? Being treated like a complete idiot who can’t do anything by himself!? So it _did_ help me in the beginning when I had no clue about how to move, how to do anything with confidence because I fucked up before but _I don’t need that anymore_! What I need is for you to trust me that I can do my part as well as you can!”

Kageyama didn’t say anything but Hinata could tell what he was thinking. From the way he averted his eyes, loosened his grip. It hurt and Hinata wondered if his words had cut Kageyama just as badly before. He hadn’t seemed affected at all. From the beginning, Kageyama hadn’t taken him seriously at all then. Wasn’t that what it meant? 

Hinata shook Kageyama’s hands off without any sort of resistance and gulped, throat aching as he tried to speak. “I see how it is, then. Trust me, I meant what I told Takeda-san back then. I won’t let that effort go to waste… but I don’t want mine to be wasted either. If I go on like this, I’m never going to move on from being your inferior extra or, what, your background singer?”

A wry laugh escaped his throat. “Not to you, not to the other units, not to our fans. But I’m not the type to duck away from challenges or break my promises so I will have to change something about the way I am.” He swallowed hard, and exhaled slowly, shakily. “And I will do it, with or without you.”

Only for a second, Hinata caught Kageyama’s expression before he turned around grabbing his bag to leave and suddenly, he realized Kageyama hadn’t been unaffected in the least. 

\---

“It’s been almost a year,” Hinata said, pulling the zipper of his hoodie up and down repeatedly. The black colour already chipped off at some places thanks to his nervous habit before performing. He had to forcibly get rid of running to the bathroom because he almost missed his entrance twice thanks to it. “Since our debut, that means it’s been even longer that we’ve been working together, Kageyama-kun.”

Kageyama’s eyebrow twitched at every zip up and furrowed with every zip down. He stared at Hinata’s hand movements for a little before replying and slapping his hand away. “Quit that, you’re making me nervous.”

“Oh?” Hinata pulled the zipper up and grinned. “So you get nervous too after all, ‘cool-headed beauty’? I wish the magazines and fans knew you aren’t actually cool-headed, just simple-minded so you don’t give a damn about anything that isn’t sleeping, eating or practicing when it’s not being on stage.”

Kageyama grabbed but missed Hinata’s head who snickered at the successful dodge - without counting in Kageyama hadn’t aimed for his head but for his hoodie, yanking him back forcefully. “I never said I was cool-headed. Don’t be a baby about things I can’t change.”

“Ah, for once… I would like to be the cool one too…” Hinata said dreamily, fixing his collar back in place and grazing over the seam embroidered with black sequins. He liked how their black hoodies sparkled in direct light but the best thing about them that they could be worn inside out too - then they were both dressed in a blazing orange hoodies, sparkling even brighter. 

A good choice of outfit. 

“Who gives a damn about that anyway?”

“Obviously not you, that’s why you are the cool one!” Hinata groaned and leaned over the table, face flopped onto the cold surface. “Sometimes I…” he started quietly, heart pounding, “I wonder what would have happened if I had decided to leave for good. Back then, you know, when we fought.”

Kageyama kept silent, fiddling with his zipper, from the sounds of it. ...Ah. Right. He was prone to pick up things from others. Habits, techniques, ways to speak - somehow, Kageyama was a lot like a sponge. The worst about this ‘special ability’ was that he usually did it better than the original too. 

“I would have kicked down your door and dragged you back to the agency. That’s what would have happened.”

Hinata turns his face to Kageyama, cheek still resting on the table. “For real? You would have had to pay for that door. And I doubt they would have taken me back if I quit.”

The zipper stopped moving and Hinata looked up to see Kageyama’s expression being unusually soft. “Takeda-san is really convincing if he wants to be. It’s pretty unbelievable,” he said and Hinata giggled. He could see what Kageyama meant. “I wouldn’t have had another shot in this business if it hadn’t been for him either. No one would have taken in an inconsiderate failure of an idol that had been kicked out of another agency before.”

“Maybe that’s why he threw us two together, then,” Hinata said as he sat up and propped his elbows onto the table with a smile. “You know, like in science. If you add two failures, the result is positive.”

Kageyama squinted at him and Hinata wasn’t quite sure whether that was because of what he said or because he’d been called failure by someone else but himself yet it didn’t matter as Kageyama’s gaze went softer again as he breathed, “Maybe.”

\---

“You’ve gotten a lot better at giving interviews, Kageyama-kun. That’s a plus,” Takeda said, apparently in a good mood. He had called both of them into his office, not specifying why. “And you too, Hinata-kun. Your performances have gotten a lot better. In general, the two of you have managed to build quite the considerable fan base in this one year based on many factors.”

“Like which?” Hinata asked, genuinely curious. 

“Let’s see…” Takeda folded his hands together pensively. “First of all, fans or not, people have continuously felt the honesty in your performances. Even in the beginning, while not perfect, that has always been a major part of what makes the two of you who you are. Like this, you are inspiring those who listen to your songs to strive for what they want just like you did. I’ve heard things like ‘You believe them when they sing that’ or ‘They do seem like they’ve felt that way too’ being said about C2OWS.”

Hinata snickered, glancing over to Kageyama. His eyes were glistening hearing those words from Takeda. Neither of them interrupted him. 

“Of course,” Takeda chuckled mildly, “There is also the way you present yourselves outside of performances, especially regarding Hinata-kun, many feel like you are a very familiar figure in the sense of… when they see you, they feel at ease and comfortable.”

“Don’t take it too harshly, Kageyama-kun,” Hinata said with a light slap to Kageyama’s arm who simply glared at him but refrained from reacting any further. 

“Ah, as for Kageyama-kun, it is more of a mystery feeling that attracts especially female fans who have this feeling of wanting to know about him so… I suppose in that way, Kageyama-kun’s fans are religiously waiting for any drop of information they can get, hence they tend to make up a larger percentage of customers for the magazines you are interviewed for, for example. As well as a larger base of listeners for webradios and---”

“Enough!” Hinata sighed and groaned, burying his face in hands. “Takeda-saaaan, couldn’t you have omitted that particular part?”

“It is just statistics, Hinata-kun,” Takeda laughed and shook his head, “You attract more people who aren’t diehard fans yet and Kageyama-kun is keeping the ones you already have.”

Hinata squinted, ignoring the sound of Kageyama snorting on the right side. “That doesn’t make it better.”

“Now, now. The two of you are still a unit and most of your fans love what you two make out of it. _Together_. I know that, in a way, you also see each other as rivals but you can’t forget that you are also partners. No matter what, you are measured as a unit, don’t forget that.” Takeda snickered, a little too vigorously for Hinata to understand what he found so funny. Judging from Kageyama’s face, he didn’t get it either. 

“We derived from the original topic,” Takeda suddenly said, after taking a deep breath to calm his giggling fit, as if he realized that bit of information in midst of laughing, “Thanks to your popularity, you are also getting more jobs outside of performing.”

While Hinata enjoyed those, he couldn’t rejoice as much as Takeda seemed to have expected. Kageyama even less since he was mostly thinking of anything outside of performing on stage as tedious part-time jobs. Necessary but annoying.

So, Takeda continued talking to elaborate his point. “Which, ultimately, help you grow more popular. The more popular you grow, the more likely it is for you to perform in front of a larger audience. On your own. Not as a joint event with our other units neither in a small scale.” He leant over his table and lowered his voice like in movies when they started talking about something top-secret. Hinata leant in too, for the dramatic effect. “I’m talking big scale here. Like Tokyo Dome, for example.”

Hinata felt Kageyama flinch at the same moment he did, leaning in just like Hinata did earlier. Takeda smirked, and for the first time he seemed more like a villain than anything else in Hinata’s eyes. “I see we’re talking now. Thankfully,” he sat up straight again, back to his gentle smile, “I have managed to land just the right jobs for the two of you to make Tokyo Dome happen. Maybe not just that. Maybe a tour through Japan. And then afterwards,” he leant in again, his voice low again, “Overseas? Conquer the world? Wasn’t that your dream?”

“Of course!”

Hinata and Kageyama both stared at each other, startled by the volume the other replied in the same exact thing the other did and exchanged a grin. 

Stopping before they had achieved that would equal failure to both of them. And by now, Hinata knew they both hated nothing more than to lose. 

\---

“I told you to check your shoe laces, you dumbass,” Kageyama says, gulping down an entire bottle of water in the depths of the night. 

The music still played in Hinata’s ears, his own voice and Kageyama’s still echoing at the back of his mind over and over again. He still feels the high of that large concert even though it already ended hours ago. His hands feel less sweaty but still as warm as before. 

“It’s okay. I’m the ditzy one anyway. Besides, it’s not like anyone noticed until after the song was through. Good thing I didn’t kick it in your face,” Hinata giggles and it nets him Kageyama’s pillow straight to his face. At least hotel pillows are soft and fluffy enough for Hinata to forgive it right away and keep it as a hostage with his arms wrapped around it. 

“I can’t believe this is happening, Kageyama. The concert felt so unreal. The fact that we’re on tour feels so unreal, that we’ll leave tomorrow again and have another concert. This is so…”

“Unreal?” Kageyama grins and flops onto his back onto the mattress. “Kinda. Not that I doubted it would happen. We’ve went through enough shit to earn this. Now… I’m just enjoying this reward.” He sighs and turns his head to Hinata, smirk still glued to his face. “Can’t believe you started crying when we thanked our fans.”

“You’re talking! You wiped your snot with your _sleeve_ , that’s gross! No one does that, especially not on stage. And they still call you the cool one.”

“Oh, shut up, I did not cry! I wiped my sweat!”

Hinata nods, extensively to support his words. “Sure, you tell that to yourself. I saw you staring into my eyes, all red with nose snotty when you got all sentimental. At least you didn’t trip over your words for once.”

“You!” Another pillow to the back of his head, another hostage. Hinata would make sure Kageyama sleeps on nothing but his mattress tonight if he keeps this up. He laughs, flops onto his back too and presses both pillows against his chest. The exhaustion hits him all of a sudden, with Kageyama gone quiet too until suddenly, he does talk after all. 

“Hey, I forgot something,” he says, suddenly and Hinata turns his head to reciprocate Kageyama’s gaze. He doesn’t wear this kind of expression often on his usually scary and sometimes actually smooth-looking face but now that he does, Hinata would like to see it more often. “I mean I thanked our fans and our sponsors and our agency and Takeda-san but… I guess I forgot to thank you.”

Hinata jolts, heart clenching in his chest. “W-What? Cheesy, Kageyama-kun! A shock! I’m going to call the newspapers! Tomorrow’s headline in the tabloids,” he says dramatically, gesturing along to hide his embarrassment, “‘C2OWS’ Kageyama a SAP!?’ Insider sources report that the popular idol of the unit---”

The last of Kageyama’s pillows hits his ear and he shrieks before grabbing it and rolling onto his side triumphantly. “See how you sleep now, ‘cool idol’! Watch me have a fluffy pillow heaven while you have… _a mattress_.”

“This mattress is fluffier than my pillow at home,” Kageyama says, straight-faced and Hinata feels incredibly defeated because it’s absolutely true. He huffs. 

“Whatever. Don’t get all cheesy on me now. It doesn’t suit you. You’re the one who is supposed to stay collected so don’t say something embarrassing,” he pouts.

“I mean it, though.”

Hinata sits up and groans. “I _know_ , that’s the problem! I can deal with you when you’re being grumpy ol’ Kageyama but how am I supposed to deal with… I don’t know, sappy Kageyama? Don’t do that!”

“Still, thank you. Without you, I wouldn’t have---”

“I said _don’t_ do that!” Hinata buries his face in the pillows and while it is hard to breathe, it is infinitely better than having to look at Kageyama genuinely meaning all these nice things. 

“You’ve changed me.”

“Go to hell, you’re doing this on purpose!”

And then, two of the pillows are ripped out of Hinata’s arms and Kageyama grins at him like he had planned all of that. Impossible, Hinata is sure Kageyama doesn’t _plan_ things but he did change. A lot, over the past three years. 

“Hell yeah I was doing it on purpose, thanks for burying your face in a pillow and giving me the chance to sneak on you,” he says, hopping back onto his mattress while holding onto the pillows. Hinata sighs and goes back into the horizontal, more comfortable position, staring at the ceiling when Kageyama adds, “I did mean it though, either way.”

“Yeah,” Hinata says, too tired to fight against that now, “I know. And I mean it too when I say, you changed me too. I guess that’s what happens in a unit, huh. Bickering and fighting, sometimes really seriously, sometimes as a joke. Having fun together and having bad times together too. Growing up together and getting used to each other and becoming better together.” He closes his eyes and breathes out deeply. “Standing on stage together, from small ones to really big ones. Making people smile and making them happy and… there’s so much more. So much that I’d miss the bus and the concert tomorrow if I continued. Thanks for staying by my side through all that.”

He hears a muffled groan and he can tell that this time it is Kageyama who buried his face in his pillow. Hinata grins complacently and tries not to pay it any mind how hot his face feels thinking that no matter what happens, he would like to stay by Kageyama’s side because after all it wouldn’t feel right if they were separated - they are a set. A duo. 

_A unit._

**Author's Note:**

> can you believe this is my 100th work and my 80th for hq? will i ever limit myself 
> 
> anyhow! did anyone also not laugh at takeda's "measured as a unit" joke bc kagehina sure as hell didn't get the joke. other than that, C2OWS is courtesy of nids and i apologize if this seemed messy. i enjoyed writing this a lot with bits and snippets and i frankly wish i could have added more. 
> 
> if you wondered:   
> *kageyama used to be in a unit with kunimi and kindaichi but since they had a fight and never properly talked it out, it led to tensions that needed one of them to leave bc their popularity dropped greatly - which was kageyama
> 
> *hinata isn't actually bad with rhythm but when he's nervous, he pays too much attention to the song so that he doesn't know which part of the instrumentals to follow. the type to hear too much and focus on too many things. once he gets the hang of it, he's doing absolutely grand (or when he completely blanks out, then his body moves on its own)
> 
> *their fight and how it resolved: they trained by themselves for a bit, with the help of the other units within the agency and eventually talked shit out (after suga locked them up in the practice room). hinata originally started being into idols thanks to mystery idol small giant who disappeared from the stage and public like a ghost. his sister is his biggest fan but she's an even bigger fan of kageyama (never admits it to her brother though). 
> 
> tfw your best boys are both in the same unit. natsu wins in C2OWS gacha no matter what


End file.
